Burnt Out
by TheRedPoet
Summary: It all started with a bet. It changed everything. Highschool AU.


A/n: Shameless trashfic. I just wanted to write the pairing.

* * *

"That weird girl is looking at you again," Emerald said, nudging Cinder with an elbow.

Cinder chewed her french fry slowly and looked up from her phone, following her friend's gaze across the sea of people until she found the girl in question. A young girl in a red hoodie, with bright silver eyes and cheeks that Cinder just wanted to grab and pinch, quickly averted her gaze upon being spotted.

"Is she now?" Cinder murmured, the corner of her mouth quirking up into a smile.

"Again," Mercury said, casting a significant look past Cinder and to Emerald. "Her name's Ruby."

Cinder made a rolling gesture of her hand and wrist, wordlessly beckoning for her friends to get on with whatever they clearly had in mind. When they - and particularly Mercury - got some idea in their heads, it was generally more expedient to indulge them.

"What of it?"

They grinned in stereo, which was always creepy, and Emerald leaned in closer.

"We think shrapnel-face has the hots for you."

Cinder straightened in her seat, growing impatient.

"And…?"

Emerald shrugged. She wasn't finished yet. She had something she wanted to say but she was waiting for a better moment to say it. The girl was quite good at manipulating others into getting her way.

"Couldn't help but notice," Mercury filled in. "We got paired up with her in history class because you were 'sick' - thanks a lot, by the way - and she's been driving us crazy."

Cinder considered the girl again. She was short, probably only a couple of inches above five feet. Her hair was dark brown, almost black, with streaks of red dyed into it. She had three rows of piercings in each ear, one in her left nostril and a little stud in the dent below her bottom lip.

Her pants were a ruin, patched and torn in what must be the latest fashion of goth-wear and clashed horribly with the oversized red hoodie.

Their eyes met, just for a moment, and the girl - Ruby - smiled tentatively at her, cheeks coloring.

"Why?" Cinder wasn't really interested in knowing. She just wanted Emerald to spit out whatever she had in mind before class began. Speaking of which…

Cinder rose from her seat, collecting her things and heading for the room's exit. Both her friends followed, and Emerald rolled her eyes.

"She's just so fucking happy all the time. Like every class is a day at Disney Land."

"Fucking holier-than-thou know-it-all," Mercury grumbled, reaching into the pocket of his leather jacket for his pack of cigarettes before they'd even left the cafeteria.

"I don't know if she can be blamed for knowing more than you do," Cinder suggested dryly. "That's not exactly an accomplishment."

Mercury scowled as he pushed open the doors leading out of the school. Beacon was an inner city school and the courtyard outside was all concrete, stairs leading down to an area with benches and tables.

"Little bitch showed me up at Goodwitch's class," Emerald grumbled, her voice turning shrill and girlish, supposedly in imitation of Ruby. "Oooh, miss Goodwitch, Emerald knows this one."

Emerald shook her head, mint-coloured locks tumbling left and right and spat on the ground.

"Somebody should put her back in her place."

Cinder lit her own cigarette and waited. They were getting to it now, whatever it was that her friend had wanted all along.

"And who, pray tell, might that someone be?"

Two pairs of eyes fell on her, again with the synchronized grins that Cinder couldn't help but answer this time around.

"Ah… Of course. What I should have asked is 'Why would I do this'?"

Emerald took one step closer, then another, until they were less than a foot apart. Her lips parted and a plume of smoke slipped past as she smirked. Her blood red eyes were very direct.

"I'm sure you can figure something out," she murmured, the words heavily laden with suggestion.

Cinder didn't like being played, especially not by Emerald who knew her too damn well as it was, but the offer was just too good. Especially considering it came with a great opportunity to put her friend back in her place.

Once she'd been given a taste she'd be coming back begging for more.

"Very well," Cinder said, dropping her cigarette and crushing it underfoot. "Deal."

She consulted her cell phone. Five minutes until Goodwitch's class started. She cast Emerald a glance and they made their way into the classroom, making it there with their books, pens and a minute to spare. Their teacher swept in a minute later and the chatter died down immediately.

Glynda Goodwitch was over six feet tall and despite the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes still carried herself with a statuesque sort of grace. Cinder had never been stupid enough to ask, but she would've guessed the woman was in her late thirties or early forties.

"Good afternoon, everybody. We'll start where we left off last week…"

English wasn't a subject Cinder enjoyed - not that she particularly enjoyed any of them - but at least Goodwitch kept things… Bearable.

The minutes ticked by and the bell rang, dismissing them all from the class and the rest of the day.

"Miss Fall. Stay behind for a moment, please."

Except for her, apparently. Both Emerald and Mercury grinned at her as they walked away, chatting amiably about their plans for the weekend, and leaving Cinder alone with Glynda Goodwitch.

Her teacher waited until the last student had left and then closed the door, walked up to Cinder where she sat at her desk, and slammed down a neat little stack of papers onto it.

"What is this?" She asked, her voice low and deadly.

"My essay for creative writing," Cinder replied smoothly, meeting Goodwitch's gaze without flinching.

"And this?" She pointed a single finger on the bright red and encircled A at the top right corner.

"You wrote it. I think you'd know better than I-"

"Cut the shit," Goodwitch spat.

Cinder had always respected, if not precisely liked her English teacher, because of her refusal to tolerate any kind of niceties and bullshit.

"This is great work. Some of the best I've ever had a student produce for me and yet professor Oobleck and Port tell me you're barely scraping a pass in their classes."

Her green eyes narrowed dangerously behind rimless glasses.

"You're clearly not stupid so tell me why you're squandering your gifts."

Cinder kept staring right back at her but didn't offer an answer. She didn't have any. Seconds ticked by and eventually Goodwitch sighed. Her expression softened.

"How is your grandmother?"

"Fine," Cinder replied tonelessly, looking out at the fading November light.

"If you want to talk-"

"It's fine," Cinder repeated, a warning edge to her voice. "May I go?"

Goodwitch blinked, considered saying something, then nodded.

"Of course."

Cinder packed her things up and had her hand on the door handle when she had an idea.

"I know I'm not your most… Enthusiastic student but I was wondering if you might know someone who could help me out?"

Goodwitch cleared her throat but her words still sounded a little thick when she spoke.

"I think I know just the girl. I'll talk to her tomorrow."

"Who?" Cinder asked, fingers crossed, the prepared excuse to get Ruby already upon her lips.

"Miss Rose. I think you'll find her company... uplifting."

Cinder smiled as she opened the door. This was turning out far easier than she'd anticipated.

"Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

So far, so good.

* * *

Ruby woke up to the sound of screeching electric guitars and yawned as she rolled over, slapping a hand at her phone and leaning her cheek back against the pillow. Just five more minutes. Five more and then she'd face the day.

Then she remembered. It was Friday. Suddenly awake and grinning, she blinked the last dregs of sleepiness out of her eyes and crawled out from under the warmth of the covers. The room was dark, lit only by the gentle orange shine of a nightlight over by the door. Her phone informed her that it was 05:32 in the morning.

The din concealed a room in a state of organized chaos. Two desks stood against the walls, one at either side of the bed, one holding a computer and the other a workstation. There was clutter just about everywhere, though the floors were kept clean and tidy.

Slipping her feet into a pair of fuzzy slippers, Ruby shambled her way out of her room and into the bathroom. She splashed water on her face and then headed out into the kitchen, digging through the fridge until she found eggs and bacon. They were out of milk - again - so pancakes were out of the question.

While the bacon began to sizzle, Ruby prepared coffee and she was just about to press the button to start the machine up when she heard keys jingle outside the apartment door.

There was a thump, some muted swearing, and then more jingling until the door eventually swung open and her sister stepped through.

Yang looked kinda awful as she stepped through the door. Her otherwise bright lilac eyes were dull. Her shoulders hunched and she leaned heavily on Ruby as they hugged.

"Hey sis," she mumbled. "Is that coffee?"

"Uh-huh," Ruby replied, squeezing back tight. "Made ya a fresh pot. Go hop in the shower and I'll have breakfast ready for ya when you're done."

"You're the best," Yang said, kissing Ruby on the top of the head before zombie-shuffling her way over to the bathroom.

Ruby flipped the bacon over with a smile on her face, tipping some of the accumulated grease off into the sink before settling the pan back on the stove at low heat.

By the time both the bacon and eggs were finished and stored safely between two plates to retain their warmth, Yang still hadn't come out of the shower.

Padding across the cold floors, Ruby knocked on the door to the bathroom. No response. She tried the door handle and found it unlocked.

The room was small, with a tiny sink squeeze in between the toilet and the bathtub. The tub was small, too, enough so that Ruby was the only one in the family who could lie down in it properly, and for the most part it was used as a shower.

The curtain was drawn and the water still ran. One of Yang's arms hung limply outside of the tub.

"Uh. Yang. You okay?"

No answer. Ruby took a step closer and then she heard it. Light snoring. She pulled the curtain aside and found Yang passed out in the empty tub, the nozzle grasped loosely in her fingers. She still had shampoo in her hair.

Shaking her head, Ruby settled on the floor next to the tub and gave her sister's shoulder a light shove.

"Hey."

The expression on Yang's face as she jerked awake was kinda hilarious and Ruby couldn't help but grin.

"Whuh?"

"I was just wondering if my sister had turned into a great big blonde prune."

"Not yet," Yang said, sinking back further into the tub and letting her eyes drift shut.

Ruby took that opportunity to snatch the showerhead out of her hands. She adjusted the heat and carefully began to wash the shampoo out of her sister's golden locks.

"It's just two classes," Ruby reminded her gently, digging the fingers of her free hand into Yang's scalp. "You'll be home by lunch and then you can sleep a bit."

"Or we just skip," Yang said. "I'll nap for a few hours and we can stay in bed all day watching crappy movies."

"Oooor," Ruby said, diligently scrubbing the last of the suds out. "Oooor we go to school and then nap and watch movies."

"I'll make popcorn."

Ruby flicked a finger at Yang's forehead.

"C'mon, Yang. School's important."

"Fine, fine. Gimme a towel."

* * *

They arrived at Beacon High an hour later, properly caffeinated and baconated and made their way to their lockers. The school consisted of four long hallways, with lockers and classrooms at every side. connected at either end by a long counter hallway full of chairs and common areas for the students to hang out.

They found Blake and Weiss by the lockers, both of them somehow looking even more exhausted than Yang did, with dark shadows under their eyes.

Yang had met Blake when they were both four or five (details varied) and they had eventually become friends over some affair regarding Cardin Winchester stealing Blake's barbie and Yang beating him up. According to Blake, it had been a He-man doll. Again, the stories varied.

Weiss had joined the gang when they started high school, being paired off with them during a class project. She and Blake had been bickering ever since, as far as Ruby knew, and apparently somehow became friends in doing so. In case it wasn't already abundantly clear, Yang and her friends were weird.

"Man," Yang said, looking from one to the other. "You two look like shit."

"Someone got us into a fight…" Weiss glare left no uncertainty about who that 'someone' might be. "And we spent the entire bloody night holding a defensive choke point until they gave up and we could log off."

They hadn't actually been in a fight, or Ruby at least didn't think so. They were talking about the game Grimm Eclipse, which they played together.

Blake groaned, pinching at the bridge of her nose.

"He was giving you shit and I didn't like it."

Her tone of voice suggested she'd repeated herself more than once on the subject.

"And you just decided to kill him. Not once, not twice, but three times."

"Yes."

Weiss' glare intensified and she spoke through gritted teeth.

"I do not need you to be my knight in shining armor."

"It's easy to get confused when you look so much like a princess," Blake shot back, heat creeping into her words.

It seemed to take her a moment to catch up with what she'd said and by the time she did, her mouth dropped open and a flush began to creep up her cheeks, though that wasn't anything compared Weiss tomato-impression.

"Uh - guys." Yang said, stepping in between them. "Maybe save this for later, yeah?"

Weiss muttered a few choice words under her breath, quietly enough that Ruby couldn't hear. Whatever she said, it made Blake grin, though, and Yang put her arms around both her friend's shoulders, putting a firm end to the argument and dragging the both of them along to class. Ruby hurried to keep up.

Usually, Weiss insisted upon taking a seat in the front row but today she followed Blake and Yang without complaint. She sat straight-backed - wobbling in place - but straight-backed and attentive looking. Blake and Yang, in contrast, both laid their heads down on their arms and dozed until the rhythmic click-clack of Miss Goodwitch's high heeled shoes rang through the hallway outside and they both shot upright again.

Miss Goodwitch was a good teacher and all, but she was also sorta scary. Even Yang thought so and Yang wasn't scared of anything or anyone.

"Today we are going to start up a new project," Goodwitch said, settling her briefcase by her desk, gaze sweeping over each of them in turn, "You'll work in pairs. Miss Sustrai, you'll work with Mr Wukong. Mr Vasails, you are working with Miss Nikos…"

She kept pairing everybody off until finally. "Miss Rose. You'll work with Miss Fall."

Ruby glanced sideways at Cinder Fall, the dark-haired, enigmatic bad-girl bundle of sultry hotness who she knew Yang didn't like much and had advised Ruby to stay away from.

Intense amber eyes flicked over towards Ruby and the corner of Cinder's mouth twitched up briefly.

"You'll be writing a story together," Goodwitch continued, moving in between the tables and handing out papers. "The handout contains a list of styles or topics, but these are suggestions. You're free to pick any or to make up something of your very own. If you have any questions or troubles getting started. Three thousand words minimum. Due next week."

She gave them an expectant look and they all began to pair up as instructed. Ruby swallowed and tried not to think of her rapidly thumping heart as she walked over to her assigned partner and settled in the chair beside that Emerald had recently vacated.

People around them were talking, getting going. She could hear Yang excitedly describe something involving lawnmowers and zombies, in enough that detail that poor Velvet was going paler and paler by the second.

Ruby, meanwhile, kept stealing glances of Cinder at the corner of her eye but whenever she tried to open her mouth to speak, no words would come out. The older girl's patience probably ran out, because after a minute or two, she tapped Ruby on top of the head.

"Do you ever write?" She asked. Judging by her tone of voice, she might have asked more than once.

"Well, yeah." Ruby frowned. "Or wait... Do you mean, like, for fun?"

Cinder rolled her eyes, though it looked to Ruby like it was mostly a playful gesture.

"Yes."

"Ah. Then no. Cept once on a dare for Blake."

She blushed a little. That story had been decidedly R-rated and really, really terrible but she and Blake had been laughing about it for a few weeks after that, which had been nice.

"Oh?"

The weight of Cinder's gorgeous amber eyes on her was palpable and Ruby flush worsened.

"Nothing interesting," she hastened to add. "Do you wanna do one of Goodwitch's topics or come up with something of our own?"

Cinder watched her for a few moments longer, smirking, then dragged her gaze down along the list of story ideas.

"Something of our own, I'd say. I think far more likely to impress her. How about we work in the library?"

Ruby hesitated. She wasn't even sure why.

"Yeah. Sure. Let's go ask."

Goodwitch barely looked up from the papers she was grading when she gave them permission, though Ruby thought she might be smiling. Maybe she was writing Yang's limerick story.

They made their way through the corridors to the back of the school, to the corner where the library lay nestled and mostly forgotten. The library was old - ancient, really - and looked every inch of it. It comprised of a single room the size of two or three classrooms, with lots and lots of bookshelves crammed into most of the available space and a few sofas and tables along the wall facing the backyard of the school.

A large oak grew outside and with the small windows being mostly covered by its leaves, the room was left in a perpetual gloom.

It was a quiet, dusty and just awesome place.

Cinder spread a notebook open across the table and drew a large circle in the middle as the start of what Ruby assumed would be a mindmap.

Cinder had settled close enough that her thigh was brushing up against Ruby's and her warmth and presence forced Ruby to stifle the instinct to skitter away and hide somewhere.

"What kinds of fiction do you enjoy?" Cinder asked.

She sat slightly bent forward, with the tip of her pen a fraction of an inch off the paper, waiting for Ruby to speak.

Okay. Be cool. You can do this. She's just a person.

"Yang and I watch a lot of bad horror movies and stuff. Does that count?"

Cinder tilted her head slightly, lips pursed.

"I suppose it does."

She wrote the word horror in the middle of the circle, then drew an off-shot line, at which she wrote comedy with a question mark after it.

"Soo…" Ruby said. "What do you like?"

Cinder frowned, as if she hadn't expected the question, or maybe didn't really know the answer.

"A bit of everything," she murmured. "But horror should work."

Ruby considered their mind map.

"I dunno if Miss Goodwitch would like a silly horror comedy."

Cinder's expression didn't change but there was something wry in her tone when she responded.

"I think she'd surprise you, but as you wish." She leaned in a little closer, making eye contact for the first time. Her eyes were a burning amber colorBur, intelligent, calculating and very intense.

"Tell me, Ruby Rose… What scares you more than anything?"


End file.
